Infection
by RiddlePanda
Summary: The Entity is back for revenge on Linkara and will stop at nothing to break the man.
1. Power

Infection Part 1- Power

This story is based on some awesome Entity fanart that a Tumblr user Lizzyintime made. Her art Tumblr is Lizdrawseverything.

These characters are not mine and I made no money from this. I'm just a simple fangirl.

Warning: This is a dark story. It will not have a happy ending.

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Contrary to popular belief, The Entity did not die or disappear entirely when Linkara vanquished it. Due to unforeseen circumstances of The Plot Hole warping time and space, The Entity merely escaped into the dark chasm of the anomaly. It waited for what seemed like an eternity which might have been only a second. Time and space were funny that way. Eventually, it had a visitor, the "body" of that weird Indian kid, Ma-Ti, that had hung around one of Linkara's friends.

The Entity was pleased when this happened. Through the inconsistencies of The Plot Hole, it could see that the reviewers it had previously entrapped were travelling closer to it. Then he would have his revenge on Linkara. It still wanted to absorb all existence, but unlike Vyce, the comic book reviewer had defeated him. In all it's travels, The Entity had never met a being that got even close to figuring out, let alone defeat what he was. It infuriated the being. It wanted to watch Linkara suffer.

But… The damned Nostalgia Critic had to sacrifice himself and save his friends and chose to remain in the Plot Hole. The Entity tried its hardest to make Critic's life hell, even creating a purgatory-like world. Eventually the Critic broke free and escaped, but it wasn't without consequences. The Entity had broken Critic enough to seep into the Critic's insecurities and escape with him. It would slowly infect him to the point that no matter what anyone did, the Critic and anyone else it infected, it would be impossible to cure.

—-

"Critic….Critic….CRITIC…DOUG!"

The shouting of Critic's real name snapped him out of his thoughts and he looked up to see That Other Guy, Malcolm and Rachel look at him worriedly. Critic closed his eyes and sighed. "I zoned out again, didn't I?"

"Critic, maybe you should go see a doctor? You've been zoning out a lot lately. The review can be put on hold. I'm sure everyone would be happy with just a bonus from one of the DVD's in the meantime. Even the trolls are becoming worried." That Other Guy put his hand on his brother's shoulder. "And I'm sure we could bribe Guy or Bum to do something if that's not good enough."

"I'm fine. The Plot Hole took a lot out of me. I was so gung-ho to work again that I never really took a break after getting out. It's just catching up with me. A few good night's rest and I'll be good as new." Critic gave a half smile and began to walk out of the room. "Just put up whatever you want. I'm taking a nap."

—-

Critic waited until he was in his room with the door locked until he slowly lifted up his sleeve to reveal striped patches of static staining his skin. He shivered as one of the patches crawled around his pinkie finger. He had been fine for a few weeks after escaping The Plot Hole, but in the last week, he had been unable to sleep without a static-y voice whispering horrible and dark things about his friends. The patches had began only a few days ago and were rapidly growing on his body.

"YOU KNOW YOU CAN'T FIGHT IT CRITIC. THE LAST PERSON I POSSESSED WAS THAT IDIOT FRIEND OF LINKARA'S AND NO ONE SUSPECTED ME FOR A YEAR. I'VE BECOME A LOT STRONGER SINCE THEN. QUIT RESISTING."

"Shut Up! Shut up! Shut up! Get out of my body!" Critic grabbed his head and fell to his knees, trying to block the much louder voice in his head.

"AS THAT ONE RACE SAYS ON THE INFURIATING SHOW LINKARA WATCHES, RESISTANCE IS FUTILE. I'VE BEEN INFECTING YOU FOR MONTHS NOW, SLOWLY SEEPING MY WAY INTO EVERY PART OF YOUR BEING. NOT EVEN LINKARA CAN DEFEAT ME NOW. I AM THE ENTITY AND MY VOICE WILL BE HEARD THIS TIME."

"Th-the Entity… But why…how…?" Critic choked out a sob as the back of one of his eyes began throbbing. The cold creeping feeling of the static sent shivers through the man.

"I WANT LINKARA TO SUFFER. I WANT HIM TO FEEL HELPLESS AS ALL HIS FRIENDS BECOME HIS ENEMIES. THIS TIME, LINKARA WON'T HAVE THE HELP OF HIS FRIENDS TO STOP ME UNTIL IT'S WAY TOO LATE. I WILL TAKE OVER HIS BODY AND RAVAGE THIS WORLD, LIKE I'VE DONE TO SO MANY OTHER WORLDS.

YOU WILL BE THE FIRST OF MY INFECTED FOLLOWED BY SPOONY. WITH THE BOTH OF YOU, I'LL HAVE THE UPPER HAND IN CONFRONTING LINKARA. HE WON'T HURT HIS FRIENDS SO EASILY. YOU'LL CONTACT AND MEET WITH SPOONY SHORTLY AFTER I TAKE YOU OVER."

Critic chuckled as a violent shiver ran across his back. "Heh, you can't get to Spoony. He left our dysfunctional little family while I was gone as did others. Not that I blame them. The physical and emotional stress I gave to all of them should have made all of them leave long ago. It was a wonder they stuck around as long as they did. But for whatever reason, Spoony won't come here without a good reason. He's got enough sense to know something is wrong."

"THAT'S WHY YOU'LL BE FLYING TO ARIZONA TO MEET HIM. I WANT HIM INFECTED AS FAST AS POSSIBLE. HE'S THE CLOSEST TO LINKARA AND HE'LL KNOW THE BEST WAY TO AVOID BEING DETECTED UNTIL WE'RE READY TO CONFRONT HIM. NOW QUIT RESISTING CRITIC."

The pounding in Critic's head and the shivers as the static across Critic's body began to increase and soon Critic could hear a loud screaming in the room. It took a moment to realize it was coming from him. An excruciating flash of pain resonated in his brain and Critic fell to the floor, unconscious.

—-

"Guys! He's coming around! Critic, can you hear me?"

Critic opened his eyes slowly and made out Rachel's worried face staring at him. He smirked a bit and grabbed her warm hand with his cold one. "I'm fine Rachel. Don't worry. Everything's going to be alright now."

"That's good. You had us worried for a minute bro." That Other Guy came into view and helped Critic sit up.

Critic glanced around the room and saw that not only was Rachel, Malcolm and his older brother was there, but also Bum and Guy. He smirked. "I know I've been a bit difficult to work with, but I assure you, I'll get help. I know what my problem was and I know how to deal with it. Now if you excuse me, I think I'll go take a nice long drive to clear my head."

Despite many protests, the other occupants of the room finally let Critic stand up. He made sure to physically touch each one in order for The Entity to infect them and waited until each had been taken over. It took far less time for their transformations than his own. It was perfect to know when he confronted Spoony. The man was quick on his feet and in his head. Critic knew he'd have far less time to infect Spoony than the others.

"You all know what to do. Act like we do every day but don't forget to spread ourselves to the rest of our crew that live here."

As he walked outside and got in his car, he dialed a number on his cell phone. "Yes, I need one ticket on the next flight to Phoenix, Arizona."


	2. Wisdom

Infection Part 2- Wisdom

Part 2 of the fic based on Lizzyintime's Entity-infected pics.

Warning: This is a dark story. It will not have a happy ending.

—

Spoony immediately knew something was wrong as he walked through the door and didn't have Oreo greet him like she normally did. "Oreo…puppy…come 'ere girl…." All he was met with was the familiar creak of his computer chair.

Spoony chuckled and and walked to his computer. "Oreo, you know your not supposed to sit on Daddy's chair when he's…"

The chair spun around. "Hello Spoony. It's been a while."

Spoony's heart skipped a beat as he came face to face with Critic, who was petting a sleeping Oreo.

"Cr-Critic!? What the hell are you doing here?! And how the fuck did you get in my house?! Insano and Burton have powerful force fields around the house and if you've forgotten, Miles is a cop! If you weren't my friend… You scared the fuck out of me!"

"Burton knows I'm not a threat and let me in. Relax Spoony. I only want to talk to you. You never personally explained to me why you left while I was gone. In fact, we haven't even talked for a whole year! We used to be such good friends. You, me and _**LINKARA…**_" Critic stood up and carefully put the sleeping Oreo on the chair.

"I missed you Spoony. I missed your antics. It just hasn't been the same without you there. Come back Spoony." Critic started to advance forcing the gamer to step back. Spoony's heart began to speed up as the smirk Critic gave him sent chills down his spine.

"Critic, I had my reasons to leave. You guys didn't need me anymore and I was tired of making my family worry about me. Miles had the entire force look for me for DAYS when I disappeared last year. Plus my health is more important. All the running around took its toll on me. I can't do it anymore. I'll happily do a cameo, but my adventure days with you guys are over. They're too nerve wracking to take on anymore."

Critic slammed his hands on either side of Spoony's head, who realized that the man had backed him up to the wall. "You don't mean that Spoony. Don't lie to me. I watch your videos. You still have the same crazed life you did. In fact, with those and after everything that I've been told…" Critic leaned closer to the wide-eyed Spoony and whispered, "So, how _was_ that mental institution you were forced to go to after you left us?"

Spoony's breathing grew ragged. "No one knew…how did you…?"

Critic chuckled and put his hands on Spoony's shoulders. "Oh Spoony, I watched all of you while I was in that Plot Hole when I wasn't in my own little purgatory. I know everything that happened while I was gone. I even know that in reality, you never really left that…"

Spoony shoved Critic as hard as he could, knocking the man to the ground and ran up the stairs to his room and slammed the door, hoping that Critic wouldn't hurt Oreo whom he had left in the living room. She had still been strangely asleep while her master had been attacked.

He clutched his chest as he downed his heart medication and quickly picked up his gunblade and readied himself. "B-Burton, Critic's an intruder in the house! Use Stun Setting 2 when he comes in! It will paralyze him but keep him conscious so I can interrogate him. He's acting strange and I need to know why!"

It seemed like an eternity before Spoony heard the creak of the stairs and the footsteps making their way to his room. The doorknob squeaked and Critic was soon in the doorway. Spoony looked at Critic for a split second and was shocked by the static in Critic's eyes. "Burton! Now!"

The pain didn't register at first until Spoony was looking up into Critic's static-y face. "Wh…what….? I…"

"Shhh Spoony. Don't try to talk. I guess I should have told you that I've already infected both Burton and Oreo so they wouldn't attack me or alert you until I could infect you." Critic smirked as he pulled the paralyzed Spoony in his lap and began to softly stroke his hair, sending tendrils of static out to cover the gamer and infect him.

"In…infect…? Critic…Doug…what…?" Small bits of static began to blend in with the tears Spoony had in his eyes as the static started to ravage his body sending shivers throughout his body.

"Oh Noah, don't worry. I'm not mad at you. You may have left our little review show family, but soon you'll belong to a whole new family. And soon, Linkara will have no choice but to join us."

"Linkara…what does he…?" Spoony's eyes grew wide as The Entity's memories seeped in his thoughts. He began struggling to get up, trying to shake off the paralysis. "N-No! I can't…let you…"

Critic had too strong a hold on the man and Spoony quickly tired himself out. "It will all be over soon Spoony. Just relax and let The Entity in. You're a very valuable part of our plan and I would hate for you to hurt yourself." Critic shifted and draped his jacket across the man in his lap as the tremors grew worse.

"I'm…sorry….Linkara…" Spoony closed his eyes as The Entity finished taking over his body.

—

"Critic, you're not thinking this through. We need this on a larger scale or Linkara will find a way to defeat us." Spoony paused from his typing to look at Critic who was standing behind him. "We obviously can't travel to everyone's house to infect them. It would cause too much suspicion if you or I suddenly had periods of inactivity, especially you "Mr. I have to have content on my site every day, causing one less spot for the others to put their videos up, because it's my site and people better not forget that!"

Critic rolled his eyes and playfully punched the gamer in the arm. "I have to fill the void YOU left somehow. How else unless it's my beautiful face adorning the site every day? So what ARE you doing?"

Spoony smirked as he continued typing. "I've been in contact with your brother. He told me that he and the rest have infected the rest of Team Awesome in the surrounding area. I'm fixing to send him an electronic version of our static so they can send to the rest of the producers as a group email with the exception of Linkara. It will take a bit longer for them to be infected since it's not a direct contact like you did with the others and me, but Linkara won't suspect a thing until it's too late. Once everyone is infected, he won't have anywhere to go."

"What about the others that left? We can't just contact them easily as we did when they were part of the team."

"Leave them to me Critic. After all, we share loot when we play on our game streams. Why not a bit of static? And once they're infected, they'll begin to systematically infect the rest of their colleagues on the other sites. Soon, Linkara won't have anywhere to go."

"And what of Insano?"

"Let's just say, pink orbs are extremely easy to infect. The little guy came up a while ago for lunch. I gave him dessert as well. Insano should be infected soon. As soon as he is, we'll begin the plan to take over Linksano and Comicron-1. We need that ship under our control so Linkara won't have a way to escape should he find out about our plan early."

"I'll leave it to you then. I've got to get back but I'll keep in contact. See you in a few weeks Spoony." Before Critic walked out the door, he turned around. "It's good to have you back Spoony."


	3. Courage

Infection Part 3- Courage

Final chapter of the Entity-infected story inspired by Lizzyintime's Entity drawings.

Warning: This story will be dark. It will not have a happy ending.

—-

The weeks passed as The Entity slowly infected everybody either through electronic or actual human contact. There was one noticeable side effect of being infected. The ones that were infected could easily hide the static that sometimes appeared with clothes or costumes, but it had a negative effect on camera equipment. It caused glitches in the videos that many were afraid the un-infected ones could detect. It was all easily rectified in the third week when Chick called Critic, telling him that they had infiltrated the Blip offices.

A day later, a special notice was put on the main page talking about the site redesign and how for a few weeks while they figured everything out, there would be glitches in the videos. There was special care to place a glitch in Linkara's videos once he uploaded them to not raise suspicion.

Spoony and Insano had easily transported themselves to Comicron-1 and overpowered Linksano. Nimue was a bit harder to infect since her systems were very advanced, but with Spoony's hacking, the ship was soon on its way to being under The Entity's control. Unlike the mass infection the others were being treated to, the plan was to infect each member of Linkara's crew slowly.

Within two months, there were hardly any people that Linkara knew that weren't either completely infected or in the process of being taken over. The only members of Linkara's crew that hadn't been infected were Jaeris, Harvey and 90's Kid. The rest had been infected through Linksano's demand that they get a regular medical check-up with him. Pollo had been infected when he linked up with Nimue's systems. They reported to Linksano if there were any times Linkara or one of the un-infected became suspicious. Linksano also payed close attention to 90's Kid. He didn't want the kid to find out what they were doing and warn Linkara.

—

A week passed before Linksano got the call from Spoony. "Critic says it's time. Take the Gunslinger first. He's the biggest threat and the hardest to actually capture. The others will be easy. We'll be there soon."

Linksano smirked and quickly sent the email he had prepared for the occasion. A few minutes later, Jaeris materialized.

"So ya found a way to get me back home?"

"Something like that. I just want you to step over to that platform right there and we'll be set to go." Linksano gestured to the corner and began to push buttons on the control panel. The plan was once Jaeris stepped on the platform, Nimue would wrap the man in cables and infect him.

"Don't I need to tell Linkara I'm leavin'? That'd be the right thing to do. I don't…"

"THERE'S NO TIME! JUST GET TO THAT CORNER!" Linksano shouted and whipped around quickly, causing his goggles to crash on the ground.

Jaeris took a look at Linksano's static-y eyes and recognized what this meant. He pulled his gun out and aimed it at the scientist. "You're The Entity. I've heard about you from Linkara. He told me you were dead! Linksano, if you're in there, I'm sorry." He began to pull the trigger.

"SNOWFLAME DOES WHAT THE ENTITY SAYS! SNOWFLAME IS TAKING YOUR GUN!"

A red and white blur quickly knocked Jaeris down and the man looked up to find Linksano and Snowflame looking down at him.

"No hard feelings Jaeris. Soon you'll know everything. Snowflame, restrain him." Linksano snapped his fingers and soon the man was being held in a death grip by the white haired villain.

Jaeris struggled as the static began to crawl around him, filling his body and head with the strange collective thoughts of the other infected. His breathing eventually evened out and Snowflame let go of the man. The Gunslinger reached down and picked up his hat that had fallen and placed it back on his head. "Well, I reckon it's time for me to visit Mr. Finevoice."

—

Linkara grumbled as he had to type another apologetic comment beneath his new video. Since the TGWTG site and Blip were having website troubles, his videos as well as everyone else's videos kept showing very noticeable glitches. Many of his fans kept pointing it out and he made yet another note, saying it wasn't his fault.

"Dude, what's wrong?" 90's Kid flopped down on the futon and Linkara turned around to stare at him.

"Feet off the futon. I'm just getting frustrated because of all the glitches that are happening in my videos. I know it's happening to everyone's videos because of site issues, but I'm getting tired of half my comments just mentioning them. Plus I keep emailing the tech people to ask how long it will take and they won't give me a straight answer and…90's Kid?"

90's Kid had sat up at the mention of glitches and shivered. "Wh-what do the glitches look like?"

Linkara gasped a bit. "Oh 90's Kid, I completely forgot about… Forget I said anything. It's just a website issue."

"Show me." The teen jumped off the futon and sat down in the spare chair Linkara had in his office. Linkara clicked on one of his videos and the two watched until one of the glitches that Linkara had mentioned happened to the video. 90's Kid grew pale and he quickly clicked off the video. "Linkara, we have to go. Now."

"What? 90's Kid, what are you…?"

The door crashed open and Harvey strolled in. "Heya, Kid. I've been lookin' all ova for ya. Got somethin' ta show ya."

The smirk Harvey was giving unnerved 90's Kid and he quickly grabbed Linkara's hand. "Uh, sorry Harvey, dude. We've got something we need to do." The teen began to walk around Harvey to the door, keeping Linkara as close behind him as possible.

"What the Hell 90's Kid?! What's gotten into you?!" Linkara ripped his hand out of the teen and walked up to Harvey. "We're not doing anything Harvey. What do you have to show me?"

Before Harvey could touch Linkara and infect him, 90's Kid lunged at the lounge singer and knocked them both into the futon. Harvey hit his head on one of the shelves behind the futon and fell unconscious. 90's Kid slowly got up, breathing heavily and shaking.

Linkara started to advance to the teen. "90's Kid! What the…!?"

"Linkara, get out of here! NOW! Go! RUN!"

"What are you…?" Linkara didn't get a chance to finish as 90's Kid tackled the reviewer to the floor and wrapped his hands around Linkara's throat. Linkara tried to pry the teen's hands off before finally reaching for his gun and slammed it against the teen's head.

90's Kid's sunglasses fell off and Linkara froze as he saw the static in the kid's eyes. "No…" he whispered and started to struggle even more than he had been. He was prepared to fire at his friend when a jolt forced him to drop the gun and he looked in horror as the gun was beginning to show signs of static on it.

"R…run…Lin…ka…ra…." The hands around his throat loosened and Linkara pulled himself away, glancing briefly at the teen, who was struggling with the static. He threw off his jacket, which had got a bit of static on it and looked back once more at his friends and gun, before running out of the room and into his bedroom to grab another weapon and his communicator.

"Nimue, I've got a problem. I believe The Entity is back. It's already infected 90's Kid, Harvey and Margaret. I need you to beam me up to the ship so I can plan out what to do next."

"Affirmative, Lin-Linkara. Tel-teleporting now."

Linkara threw down the communicator a split second before it spewed static from the speaker. "Damn it! It got Nimue! It probably has the ship too! How did it…?"

A police siren broke him out of his thoughts and Linkara went to the window to see Liz and Jaeris step out of a police car. Even though it was a bit of a distance, the reviewer could vaguely make out the static that twitched on their bodies. Linkara gulped and silently thanked that his window had a fire escape. He waited until the two were out of site before crawling out his window and down the escape.

Linkara rounded the corner to get to his car and stopped short when he realized Boffo and Ninja Style Dancer were leaning against his car. Looking both ways to see if the coast was clear, the man bolted toward small forest that was behind the apartment complex.

—-

Two months. For two months Linkara had been on the run from his former friends. He soon learned that everyone he held dear had been infected by The Entity and they were all looking for him. His family kept putting Missing Person flyers up and and videos on the news. The entire Police Department, courtesy of Liz, patrolled the areas he use to frequent, even his fellow producers put videos out, begging for him to come back.

Linkara was glad he had found one of his old tracker jamming devices in his old abandoned place. Nimue, Linksano and Insano kept making sweeps to try to detect him. He had moved a total of five times when someone got too close to his hiding spots. This last place was a secret lab miles away from the city and underground where he had cloned Spoony.

It was here that Linkara tried to make some sort of antidote to whatever The Entity had done to his friends. He had discovered a small tendril of static had hitched a ride with him and trapped it in a specimen jar before it could grow. With this sample and the various chemicals and tools in the lab, he was bound and determined to save his friends.

Linkara kept a small bit of the static hooked up to one of the computers so any hive thoughts that any of the infected thought would be projected to the computer and Linkara would have an idea of what they were doing. So far, they hadn't been able to find him or come anywhere near where the lab was.

The place was stocked for two months with food and water, but Linkara rationed carefully. He had already been here for almost a month and didn't know how long it would take him to finally make a breakthrough. He barely slept because he would hear the voices of his friends tell him to give in.

Lack of food and sleep were starting to wear the man down. But he pushed through. Whatever The Entity wanted, he'd find a way to stop it and save everyone.

—

"….kara…Linkara…wake up…"

Linkara's eyes shot open and he dodged out of the way before the hand touched him. He quickly turned around to see the two men standing before him. "Critic! Spoony! How?! How did you find me!? I was…so careful…"

"Your desire to spy on us cost you your downfall Linkara." Spoony walked over to the computer and picked up the sample. "You hooked up this little guy to the computer not knowing that it became a two-way communication. You heard us but we also heard you. All we had to do was listen long enough for you to slip up. You really shouldn't talk in your sleep you know."

Linkara slowly backed up to where his weapon cabinet was, keeping a close eye on the two.

"I really wouldn't do that. Your weapons are gone. We took them and gave them to 90's Kid who's standing outside with the rest. Even if you did take us out, you're still surrounded." Spoony began advancing toward the man.

"Oh Linkara…Lewis… if you had only given in, you'd be at home with your crew making reviews and equipping Comicron-1 for our dimensional travel when we take over the other universes out there." Critic took the other side and soon the two men trapped Linkara in a corner. "We missed you Lewis. It's just not the Three Schmuckheads without you. You're the third member of our Triforce. Our Courage just like Spoony is our Wisdom and I'm our Power. You fought for so long, but it's time to come home."

Linkara slid down the wall as his body gave up on him. He was too tired to fight anymore. Tears streamed silently down his face as he slowly accepted his fate. There was nowhere to run anymore, nowhere to hide. He had failed. He looked up at his friend's static-y concerned faces. "Doug…Noah…does it hurt?" he whispered.

The two men smiled at him, their true smiles and not the smirk The Entity seemed to had adopted.

"It feels weird at first as the static creeps over you but you get used to it." Critic slid down the wall next to Linkara and wrapped his arm around the man's shoulder.

"But we're here for you every step of the way. You're in good hands." Spoony slid down on the other side and repeated the action.

Linkara grabbed the free hands of Spoony and Critic and closed his eyes letting the static that curled off of the two men's bodies slowly take him over.


End file.
